Blind People’s Association (BPA) & Sense International, India (SII)
2ndJoint Asian Conference of ICEVI & DbI
TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE TOMORROW
April 5th - 7th, 2013
Blind People’s Association (BPA)
Jagdish Patel Chowk
Surdas Marg, Vastrapur
Ahmedabad-380015
Teacher Concerns About Including Students with
Disabilities in Regular Education Programs in Ahmedabad
Dr. Rina Shah, Founder & Director, Learning Links Educare, Mumbai
&
Dr. Ishwar Desai, Director & Senior Inclusive Education Consultant,
Desai Consulting Pty Limited, Melbourne, Australia
Former Head: Unit of Disability Studies & Inclusion, The University of Melbourne, Australia
STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION
SECTION A: INTRODUCTION
SECTION B: RATIONALE AND AIMS OF THE STUDY
SECTION C: METHODOLOGY
SECTION D: MAJOR FINDINGS
SECTION E: IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
SECTION A
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Education For All

An emerging trend…….
 Internationally & in India in recent decades has been the
inclusion of children with disabilities…
 Including the visually impaired
in regular schools
INTRODUCTION
Teacher Concerns
Teachers’ Attitudes towards Inclusive Movement
Regular Teachers’ Preparedness
Systemic Barriers
Barriers arising from Societal Values & Beliefs
Compliance with Policies
Responsibility for Education
Parental Resistance
Lack of Skills among Teachers
SECTION B
Rationale and Aims of the Study
RATIONALE AND AIMS OF THE STUDY
Review of Literature
 A review of the literature revealed that there is very little known
about the concerns of teachers toward the inclusion of students
with disabilities in India…….
 And in so far as Ahmedabad was concerned
 There appeared to be no studies undertaken
on this issue
RATIONALE AND AIMS OF THE STUDY
Aims of the Study
 The present study was designed:
 To identify the concerns of primary school teachers in Ahmedabad
regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities into their regular
classroom programs
 To determine if significant relationships exist
between these teachers’ concerns about
inclusive education and selected factors in their
personal and professional backgrounds and
experiences
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ BACKGROUND VARIABLES
AND
THEIR CONCERNS ABOUT INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Teachers’ Background Variables
Personal Characteristics
Personal Characteristics
 Gender
Gender
 Age
Age
 Caste
Caste
Educational
Background
 Academic Qualifications
 Professional
Teaching Qualifications
Educational
Background
 Qualifications in Special Education
 Academic Qualifications
Work Experience
 Professional
Teaching
Qualifications
 Total Number
of Years
of
Qualifications
in Special Education
Teaching Experience
 Length of Experience in Teaching
with Disabilities
WorkStudents
Experience
Class Size
Total Number of Years of Teaching Experience
 Number of Students in Class (Class Size)
Length
of Experience
teaching
students with
 Number
of Studentsinwith
Disabilities
Disabilities
in Class
Class Size
Number of Students in Class (Class size)
Number of Students with Disabilities in Class
Concerns
Concerns
about
About
Integrated
Inclusive
Education
Education
RATIONALE AND AIMS OF THE STUDY
Aims of the Study
 The present study was designed:
 To identify strategies which these teachers perceive could be adopted by
key stakeholders to address teacher concerns regarding the inclusion of
students with disabilities into their regular classroom programs
SECTION C
Methodology
METHODOLOGY
Subjects and Setting
 A sample of 560 primary school teachers working in inclusive regular
classroom programs in Ahmedabad, Gujarat was selected to participate in the
study
 A cluster sampling method was used to select the subjects
 se teachers were dawn from 98 schools
 The selected schools were situated
in the six administrative zones managed
by the Municipal School Board and the
Education Department
METHODOLOGY
Research Instrumentation
Three-Part Survey Questionnaire
Part I:
Background Information of Teachers
Part II: Concerns about Inclusive Education – Gujarati (CIE-G) Scale
&
Open-ended section for ‘Additional Concerns’
Part III: Strategies to Address Teacher Concerns Regarding Inclusive
Education
SECTION D
MAJOR FINDINGS
MAJOR FINDINGS - 1
 The composition of item loadings clearly indicated that the emerging
dimensions were:
 Factor I (Concerns about Academic Achievement and Standards)
 Factor II (Concerns about Infrastructural Resources)
 Factor III (Concerns about Self-Efficacy)
 Factor IV Concerns about Motivation)
 Factor V (Concerns about Social Acceptance)
 The factors were named according to the nature of items loading on
each factor
MAJOR FINDINGS - 2
 Female teachers
 Teachers without a special
 education qualification
 Teachers who taught in classes
that had over 20 students
EXHIBITED
A significantly higher level of concern about inclusive education than their
counterparts
MAJOR FINDINGS - 3
 On the whole, teachers had the highest concern for the factor of:
 Infrastructural Resources’
(financial, human and physical resources)
necessary for teaching students with
disabilities in their classes
 And the teachers had the
least concern for the factor of:
 ‘Social Acceptance’ of students
with disabilities (acceptance by
non-disabled students and their parents
of students with disabilities)
MAJOR FINDINGS - 4
Relationship between Teachers’ Background Variables and their Concerns about Inclusive Education
Teachers’ Background Variables
Personal Characteristics
 Gender
 Age
 Caste
Educational Background
 Academic Qualifications
 Professional Teaching Qualifications
 Qualifications in Special Education
Work Experience
 Total Number of Years of
Teaching Experience
 Length of Experience in Teaching
Students with Disabilities
Class Size
 Number of Students in Class (Class Size)
 Number of Students with Disabilities
in Class
Concerns
Concerns
about
About
Integrated
Inclusive
Education
Education
MAJOR FINDINGS - 5
 The major additional concerns, beyond those covered in the CIE-G
Scale, regarding inclusive education for most teachers were:
 lack of training in the implementation of inclusive education
 negative attitudes of school staff and community
toward students with disabilities
 inappropriateness of the conventional curriculum
and teaching methods to meet the educational
needs of students with disabilities
MAJOR FINDINGS - 6
 A number of strategies were suggested by teachers……
 Which could be adopted by various key stakeholders to alleviate teacher
concerns regarding inclusive education
 The most frequent suggestions
were made for the……
 School Management Council,
Ahmedabad
 Municipal Primary School Board
 Parents/ Guardians of
Students with Disabilities
MAJOR FINDINGS - 7
 The teachers’ main suggestions for the School Management Council,
Ahmedabad, were as follows:
 financial assistance for teaching
resources & specialized personnel
support
 provision of on-going training
to teachers for resolving problems
that they might encounter
 Provision of various incentives,
activities & other measures directed at school
administrators, teachers and students with disabilities
MAJOR FINDINGS - 8
 The major suggestions put forth by teachers for the Municipal School
Board were:
 training of teaching and non-teaching staff to implement inclusive
education programs
 financial assistance for educational materials and equipment and special
facilities necessary for implementing inclusive education programs
 to reduce the non-teaching workloads of teachers
MAJOR FINDINGS - 9
 The most important suggestions that teachers
proposed for parents/guardians of students with disabilities were:
 regular meetings with teachers
 full support and cooperation to school
teachers
 constantly encourage their child and
support learning at home
SECTION E
IMPLICATIONS
&
RECOMMENDATIONS
IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Key Stakeholders
 The study cited in this presentation identified a number of concerns
teachers have regarding the implementation of effective inclusive education in
their State
 Key Stakeholders
 An opportunity to understand
 Ideas for remedial action
IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Restructuring Schools
 Ideas for remedial action, such as, but not limited to the
following…….
 Restructuring
practices
schools
for
implementing
inclusive
education
IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Support of Key Officials
 Ideas for remedial action, such as, but not limited to the
following…….
 Garnering support of:
- policy-makers
- state officials
- school administrators
- school principals
 For effective implementation of inclusive education
IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Teacher Training
 Ideas for remedial action, such as, but not limited to the
following…….
 Providing adequate training of regular classroom teachers
both at the pre-service and in-service levels
 so that they have the necessary
knowledge, skills and attitude
to address the needs of students
with disabilities in their classrooms
IMPLICATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Para-professional Support
 Ideas for remedial action, such as, but not limited to the
following…….
 Providing adequate funds for:
- Special educators
- Teacher aides
- Para-professional staff
- Purchasing appropriate
teaching aids and materials
CONCLUSION
“The challenge now is to formulate requirements of a school for all
All children and young people of the world have the right to education
It is not our Education Systems that have a right to certain
types of Children
It is the School System of a country that
must be adjusted to meet the needs of all children”.
- Mr. Bengt Lindquist
(Salamanca Conference on Special Needs, 1994)
IT IS NOT A DISABILITY
THAT MAKES A PERSON DEVIANT
BUT
SOCIETY’S INTERPRETATION
OF DISABILITY
WE EXCLUDE:
Because we don’t understand
WE DON’T UNDERSTAND
Because of Limited Contact
WE LACK CONTACT:
Because we exclude
WE EXCLUDE:
Because………